Balanced meals = stressful!

[@llli*mek]

DS is one years old, and I have always made his own food. He is just starting to get picky with what he eats. He doesn't want any veggies nor most meats. He is basically living off bread, some tofu, graham crackers, and applesauce. At daycare, he gets 4 ounces of breastmilk and maybe 5 ounces of soy milk. At home, I nurse him at least 3 times a day when he's awake (and he comfort nurses almost all night long).

I know that it's normal for him to be hot & cold when it comes to solids right now, but I am worried that he's not meeting his nutritional needs.

Any ideas on how to sneak in some healthy stuff without him knowing? It's impossible to trick him into eating something he doesn't want. He can tell it's in his mouth and then he scrapes it off his tongue!

[@llli*aphimama]

DD1 is still doing this and sadly she'd 3. We hide veggies in just about everything. I started pureeing greens and mixing them into yogurt with fruit combos to hide the veggie flavor. Peas and pears. Spinach and mango or apple. Once she started liking peanut butter sandwiches, I mix the puree into that. Green macaroni and cheese but the coloring comes from the pureed veggies.

So far the way she tolerates it best is yogurt or green monster smoothies. Or as a dipping sauce. A lot of toddlers like to dip things, so if you make a veggie yogurt blend to dip the graham crackers or bread in maybe he would try some?

Otherwise hang in there... one is early and if you just keep offering, he's bound to get used to a new flavor at some point. Supposedly it takes about 10 times before they will accept a new taste, so just keep at it. If his output is good and he's growing, all you can keep doing is offering.

[@llli*christinao]

Smoothies sound like a great idea! What about fruits? Bananas, berries? Potatoes both sweet and regular. LOs always seem to like sweet potatoes. Would he like scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast?

[@llli*joe.s.mom]

My approach is to go with what Joe likes to eat (pb&j, cheerios, milk, cheese, bacon) for most of the day, but then I put our regular family meal in front of him in the evenings, and encourage him to at least take a few bites. You can drive yourself crazy trying to get vegetables into your picky child, but I look at Joe, and he's FINE. He's a healthy, strong, happy boy. Who lives primarily on dairy and grains, like many toddlers before him. The dinner routine is less for nutrition and more for practice trying new things.

[@llli*scienceteachermommy]

I heard a pediatric nutritionist say once that it is the responsibility of the parent to provide healthy choices but it is up to the toddler to decide whether and how much to eat.

[@llli*sixyearplan]

At a year, I think I would worry less about trying to get them to eat a large volume of solid foods, and focus on presenting a lot of variety. They are still heavily dependent on milk at one year of age, and the groundwork is really laid down here for eating habits in the future. I'm not suggesting that there should not be any bread or crackers, just maybe offered occasionally or in smaller amounts.